Hung up Paul

Great question. I imagine water temps dropped a few degrees overall. No idea though about how this effects the spawn. I'm going to wait until the weekend after the dust settles before I head out again.

My wife wanted to sleep in so I couldn't make it out.

You know I had the same idea last night. After putting the kids to bed I headed over to Royal at 9pm. I saw a couple huge fish hanging near shore in the morning. I went back to that same area with a black buzzbait. Unfortunately I only got about 5-8 casts in before my line fouled in my reel. I was ticked that I only brought one rod, but the mess was too bad to untangle it in the moonlight so I headed home. Grrrr!

There wasn't much of anything biting at Royal either but I did see a couple MONSTERS! They were right up close to the shore at one end of the dam not far from the no carp fishing sign area. I think they might have been nesting. I spooked them when I walked by but they didn't go far. I could see shadows in the deeper water. I had a little crappie spinner rigged since I wasn't having luck with the LM. I kept running it by them, but no interest. I met an old guy who had a small keeper in a bucket, but he was fishing live minnows on the other side of the lake.

I was planning on going to Royal tomorrow, but maybe I'll change my mind last minute. Can anyone point out the stumps on a map?

Nice! I'd be happy with a dink at this point.

http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLD_en___US228&q=%22silver+lake%22+va&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

What kind of snakes were they?

I know how you feel. I've been skunked every time I've been out so far this year. Lake Barton is a dead lake as far as I'm concerned at this point. I haven't seen anyone pull anything at all out. I have to try my luck elsewhere.

Sorry, missed this thread. I'm going to hit Mercer on Sunday morning. Probably also head over to either Burke Lake or Royal on Saturday morning pre-sunup because I'll need to be home by 8:30ish. Anyone interested?

I won't be able to show up tonight. Maybe some other time.

What time in the evening?

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to try it out around daybreak on Saturday. Still nothing biting in Barton at between 5 and 6 pm. I think I'm going to try tomorrow morning before work and see if it's any better.

Any of you nova guess ever fish at Woodglenn lake? I was looking at a map on google and it look like it's just a little ways to the north and across the tracks from my local spot lake Barton. Just curious if it is a residential lake or if anyone can fish there. It looks to be a bit larger than Barton too.

Had I checked the site last night I would have joined you. Oh well. I didn't fish at all this weekend. Too much yard work to be done.

Nice catch! I'm still waiting to catch my first bass of the year never mind PB! Skunked yet again at Barton yesterday.

It looks like they are talking about both lots. The marina lot by the boat rental area and fishing pier as well as the free public boat launch area. In the Summer the marina lot gets very crowded, but I think I've always found a spot.

;D ha! I've been wondering why so many people here say d**n instead of dam. Maybe it's just a cool way to sneak in a swear word every now and then. lol.

Closest I've come is almost pulling one up to the shore at Royal while almost stepping on a big dead turtle. Don't forget those 2 bluegills though. ;D

I use a Bass Pro Shops spring scale... that's probably about as small as they get. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=60605&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Nice to hear! I'm bringing the telescoping rod to work tomorrow and checking out the action at Lake Barton around 5pm.

C'mon now people. When I suggested getting a keg, it was a freakin joke! I WAS NOT SERIOUS! OK? Got it? Jeez... remind me to be all business here.

You guys missed the "er... well... maybe not." part of my post... lol.

Next time we should do it some place where we can cook out. Too much fishing going on last time and everybody spread out to much doing their own thing. Burke Lake park has a bunch of charcoal grills. I have a portable propane grill too. We could all chip in and get a keg... er... well... maybe not.

I saw a 7-8 lb LM caught off the fishing pier last August and a 5 lber that same morning. Both were caught on live bait though. Next week, April 5th, will be the season opener of the park, so it might be pretty crowded. Good luck!